1963-1965: Brits Go POP!

And so we Meet The Beatles…the album will never be the same again…

Plot twist: The Beatles were quite big in the 60s album chart.

That won’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever listened to their music, but the sheer scale of their domination of the album chart from 1963 is enormous. Writing in 2025, we live in an era where most number one albums are at the top for one week then disappear into the deepest depths of the char. Writing at the end of April, no artist this year has managed more than one week at the top; Mumford & Sons hit number one with their latest album Rushmere- the following week that record dropped a whopping 58 places.

By comparison, in 1963 into 64, the Beatles were at number one for a frustrating 51 weeks consecutively. They gave way to their great London rivals The Rolling Stones for 12 weeks, before holding the top spot for another consecutive 28 weeks.

Please Please Me would prove to be the first pop album to achieve this kind of cultural dominance in the UK and, famously, just a year later their breakthrough with the American youth would turn them into the world’s biggest group in history. As we shall see, that album would be made as quicky and carelessly as all other pop albums trying to turn a quick buck did before it; by the end of this era, their sixth album Rubber Soul would change everything when it reached the rarified ears of Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

But that is a story for another day.

One last point of note for these next three years: first, is just how quickly the old guard fall. Our next album, Cliff and The Shadows’ Summer Holiday soundtrack would be on top for ten weeks before the Mop Tops barge in. Neither Cliff nor his backing band would see number one for many years to come. And though The Beatles dominate, we will see significant releases from the Stones and Dylan, the latter turning the idea of an album from a simple collection of songs into something approaching an artistic statement.

Basically, no Bringing It All Back Home, no Brat. Imagine that.